KAMPALA

McKinnon the blogger
At 68, Mr Don McKinnon, the outgoing secretary general, has beyond doubt proven that he is not old school. Althhough Mr McKinnon was on a tight schedule at Chogm, the New Zealander found time to constantly feed his weblog.

He used his blog on http://thecommonwealthsg.blogspot.com/ to display his jocular side, leaving many wondering where he got the time for blogging. Below are snippets from Mackinnon's blog: "We threaded our way to the new airport building, so new that it isn't quite yet finished," he wrote, describing the new look of Entebbe airport.

"The thick-necked, shaven-headed security man is a staple of any summit, and I now know well enough not to engage any of them in conversation on the price of oil or the fully quantified benefits of multilateral debt relief," he wrote, describing a Presidential security operative at the opening ceremony at Serena last Friday.

BLUNDER: The media centre was well organised and equipped but part of the roof was leaking. A bucket had to be brought in to trap water from the swimming pool above. Photo by Chris Mason

"Chogms in those days were leisurely affairs, spread over a week. Oh for the days of the stenograph and the carbon paper copy, and the golf day. The 60 hours we spend together now are intense, perhaps too intense," describing the heads of government meetings.

"We misfired with Kamalesh's first media appearance: as we walked up to the media centre, in the way of a passing monkey, I found out that while twenty cameramen and even more print journalists languished in Security, beeping as they were body-searched, there was only one cameraman inside the room," he said of the preparations to announce his successor Kamalesh Sharma.

Chogm Curse
On Friday morning, the exhibitors at the Uganda Museum who were showcasing their products awoke to the shock that some of their items had been stolen despite tight security.

As if that was not enough, they had to leave their stalls to go and report the matter to the Kira Road Police station. The First Lady's visit, which was the reason they decided to exhibit, only lasted less than an hour. The spouses arrived at the cultural centre heavily guarded by security and could not shop that much. 

The much awaited spouses had been expected to stay longer and shop more, something that did not happen. The exhibitors parted with Shs200,000 to exhibit at the museum grounds. One of the exhibitors who preferred anonymity said, "I packed my things well knowing that there is security here, only to find that they were stolen this morning and now I have to use my time to go and write a statement instead of selling my products," she said.

Imperial Media centre
Journalists who have been camping at the media centre at the newly built Imperial Royale Hotel since the start of Chogm could not help worry about the leaking roof on top of which sits the swimming pool.

Journalists taking a break from filing articles to have a drink at the poolside terrace were alarmed to see the pool only half-full, the rest having trickled down to the media centre below. The media centre, which was all wired up with different gadgets, including computers, state of the art cameras and screens among others, caused a threat to these gadgets.

The Secretary General referred to this in his daily blog when he wrote: " …the new Media Centre at the Imperial Royal Hotel. It looks like the best I have ever seen.; Admittedly, there is a potentially combustive combination of water and electricity, with hotel swimming pool directly above…

But reporters love the stampeding adrenalin of the flight just as much as the scent of the chase. They looked very impressed," Mr McKinnon wrote. Several black buckets were secured to collect the trickling water as some journalist's eyes were glued onto the roof of the media centre, fearing for their machines.

Missing in Action
Conspicuously missing was Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, who has attended the last four Chogms. But Chogm could not wait for the election (which Howard lost over the weekend) and so Australia was represented by a diplomat.

The fear of the surprises from electorate was not only in Australia. Closer to home, in Kenya, a heated presidential election campaign is only about a month away from the polls.

Hours after the opening ceremony on Friday, President Mwai Kibaki had to rush back to Kenya to continue canvassing for votes to avoid scenarios such as Howard's and comfortably attend the next Chogm in Trinidad and Tobago.